Martin Gould succumbed to a 4-2 first round defeat against Dafabet Masters champion Stuart Bingham in the ManBetX Welsh Open.

The Pinner Potter had raced into a two-frame lead under Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena lights after breaks of 73 and 77, but was pegged back by the decorated world No.14 who was last month crowned king of the Alexandra Palace in London.

Bingham notched an impressive third frame 80 to put himself back in contention before checking the 38-year-old’s advances to send him back home from the Welsh capital disappointed.

And the result continued what has been a stop-start season for the world No.61, who reached the third round at the 19.com Scottish Open but failed to progress past the first hurdle at the English or Northern Irish equivalents.

The result will give Gould further questions to ponder, failing to reach a ranking event final since November 2018 and not reaching the fourth round of any major competition during the course of this season.

Watch the Welsh Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.